Emotional Regulation & Somatics
Polyvagal Theory (Stephen Porges): Three Nervous System States
A theory proposed by Stephen Porges connecting autonomic pathways with defensive and social behavior
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Emotional Regulation & Somatics
Window of Tolerance (Dan Siegel)
A clinical teaching metaphor for the range of emotional or arousal experience within which a person can remain engaged and respond flexibly
Nervous System ModelsEmotional Regulation & Somatics
Somatic Experiencing (Peter Levine): Completing the Stress Cycle
A body-focused therapeutic approach developed by Peter Levine that uses attention to sensations and paced work with distress
Somatic PracticesEmotional Regulation & Somatics
Titration and Pendulation (Gradual Exposure to Activation)
Terms used in Somatic Experiencing: titration concerns small amounts of activation, and pendulation concerns movement between activation and more settled experience
Somatic PracticesEnergy Management
Four Energy Dimensions (Loehr): Physical, Emotional, Mental, Spiritual
A performance and reflection framework associated with Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz that considers physical, emotional, mental, and meaning-related aspects of engagement
Energy SystemsEnergy Management
Ultradian Rhythms (90-Minute Performance Cycles)
Ultradian rhythms recur within a day
Energy SystemsFriendship & Social Architecture
Dunbar Layers Applied to Personal Life (5-15-50-150)
A proposed layered pattern in personal networks, often summarized by approximate cumulative sizes of 5, 15, 50, and 150 at decreasing average closeness
Social Network DesignFriendship & Social Architecture
Friendship Maintenance as Active Practice (Not Passive Accumulation)
The behaviors through which people sustain friendships, including supportive interaction, openness, and shared contact
Social Network DesignFriendship & Social Architecture
Social Convoy Model (Kahn & Antonucci)
A life-course model of significant social relationships whose composition, closeness, support, and quality change with personal and situational factors
Social Network DesignGeneral Thinking
5 Whys
A structured inquiry that repeatedly asks why a specific problem occurred, following evidence toward conditions that a useful countermeasure could change
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
First Principles Thinking
An approach that separates essential requirements and supported constraints from inherited assumptions, then reasons toward possible solutions from those starting points.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Chesterton's Fence (Don't Remove What You Don't Understand)
A caution to investigate the purpose of an existing rule or arrangement before removing it, so that hidden functions and consequences can be considered.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Circle of Competence
The task-specific range in which a person has enough grounded knowledge to make a judgment appropriate to the stakes, with an explicit awareness of its boundaries.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Counterfactual Thinking
Imagining how an event might have differed if a condition or action had changed
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Default Status
The option or outcome that applies without an active change
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Hanlon's Razor
A heuristic encouraging consideration of error or situational explanations before treating a harmful outcome as proof of hostile intent
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Inversion
Approaching a problem through an opposite or failure-oriented formulation to reveal constraints, dependencies, and preventable mistakes.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Latticework of Mental Models
A connected repertoire of models from multiple fields, selected and compared for their relevance to a specific question
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Major vs Minor Factors
The practice of identifying which factors could materially affect a specified outcome or decision, given their ranges, interactions, uncertainty, and constraints.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Making Mistakes
A learning-oriented approach to errors: detect and describe them, repair their effects, investigate contributing conditions, and test a correction.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Middle Path / Goldilocks Zone
A heuristic for investigating whether an adjustable quantity has a useful range between harmful insufficiency and excess
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Observer Effect
A change in a phenomenon caused by the process of observing or measuring it
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Occam’s Broom
A metaphor, attributed by Dennett to Sydney Brenner, for sweeping inconvenient evidence out of view to protect a preferred explanation.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Polarity
A framework associated with Barry Johnson for examining recurring tensions between interdependent benefits and managing the costs of neglecting or overusing either side.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Proxy
A measure used to represent a distinct attribute or outcome through an assumed or established connection
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Rapoport’s Rules
Dennett's presentation of a charitable criticism sequence associated with Anatol Rapoport: accurately restate the position, identify agreement and learning, then explain disagreement.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Reductio ad Absurdum
An argument that derives a contradiction or an incompatible consequence from an assumption together with accepted premises, thereby showing that the set cannot all be retained.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Scientific Method
A family of practices for developing and checking explanations through evidence, explicit reasoning, criticism, and revision
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Second-Order Thinking
Tracing how an action's immediate consequences create further responses and effects that may change the overall outcome.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Sturgeon’s Law
An aphorism associated with Theodore Sturgeon that cautions against dismissing a category because it contains much weak work
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
The Map Is Not the Territory
The distinction between a representation and what it represents
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Occam's Razor (The Principle of Parsimony)
A principle favoring avoidance of unnecessary complexity among explanations that adequately account for relevant evidence
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Thinking Gray
Steven Sample's heuristic of postponing a firm judgment when relevant evidence and arguments can still inform it, while deciding when circumstances require action.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Thought Experiment
A structured hypothetical scenario used to inspect implications, clarify concepts, or test the consistency of assumptions through reasoning.
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Two-by-Two Matrix
A representation crossing two relevant dimensions, each divided into two categories, to reveal four combinations
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Via Positiva (Addition) vs Via Negativa (Subtraction)
A comparison between improving a system by adding something and improving it by removing something
Core Reasoning ToolsGeneral Thinking
Gate’s Law
An aphorism associated with Gates about overestimating near-term change and underestimating longer-term change
Named LawsGeneral Thinking
Murphy’s Law
An engineering adage used as a prompt to anticipate plausible failures and design proportionate prevention or recovery
Named LawsGeneral Thinking
Parkinson’s Law
A satirical observation that work can expand to occupy available time, often used to question elastic scope, unnecessary elaboration, and bureaucratic growth.
Named LawsGrief, Loss & Life Transitions
Dual Process Model of Grief (Stroebe & Schut)
A model of bereavement coping that distinguishes loss-oriented and restoration-oriented demands, with movement between them and periods of respite.
Grief ModelsGrief, Loss & Life Transitions
Posttraumatic Growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun)
Posttraumatic growth refers to positive psychological changes some people report after struggling with serious adversity
Grief ModelsGrief, Loss & Life Transitions
Liminality (Turner): The Threshold Between Identities
Liminality is the transitional threshold between socially recognized statuses, developed from van Gennep's rites-of-passage framework by Victor Turner
Life TransitionsHealth & Longevity
VO2 Max as Longevity Predictor
VO2 max is maximal oxygen uptake during exercise
Exercise ScienceHealth & Longevity
Zone 2 Training (Metabolic Base Building)
Zone 2 is a system-dependent exercise-intensity label
Exercise ScienceHealth & Longevity
Centenarian Decathlon (Attia): Training Backward from Age 100
Attia's framework works backward from personally meaningful physical activities in the final decade of life to present preparation
Longevity FrameworksHealth & Longevity
Four Horsemen of Aging (Heart Disease, Cancer, Neurodegeneration, Metabolic Dysfunction)
Attia's metaphor groups cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and metabolic dysfunction as major concerns in longevity planning
Longevity FrameworksHealth & Longevity
Medicine 3.0 (Attia): Prevention Over Treatment
Medicine 3.0 is Attia's proposed emphasis on proactive, individualized, long-term prevention and healthspan
Longevity FrameworksHealth & Longevity
Sleep Architecture (Walker): NREM and REM Cycles
Sleep architecture is the distribution and sequence of non-REM stages N1, N2, and N3 and REM sleep
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